Kumo Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Lounge celebrated their Grand Opening on December 10th with food, fun and local celebrities. Serving Lunch and Dinner including Hibachi Grill, Sushi, Udon and Maki. Stop by for a House Cocktail, Beer or Wine. Located at 5231 University Parkway in Bradenton. Phone 941-355-5866.

We had a big month and year that was capped off with the EDC’s annual “Excellence in Industry” awards lunch at the Polo Grill in Lakewood Ranch.

As each company received their awards they said something to the audience. It was very interesting to hear what they had to say.

The winner of this year’s Innovation Award, Sleek Audio, gave credit to the EDC for getting their technology mentioned in a press release because this led to a new piece of business coming into the company which led to even more from the same industry (three hockey teams and the Tampa Bay Rays are now using their custom headphones.)

That’s the kind of thing that we have to continue to do at the EDC. It’s never just enough to get a high impact company to locate, we must continue to look for ways to assist them and promotion is one of those ways.

Some years I make New Year’s Resolutions… other years I don’t. Either way, they don’t last. But surely one year they will?

Besides making personal resolutions, it never hurts to use the coming of a new year as an impetus to looking over your business. Where do you see it going in 2010 and how can you ensure your goals are met?

If one of your goals is to get more involved in the Manatee Chamber, we would love to help you out. Just give the office a call to set up an appointment OR make plans to attend a “new member reception” (aka orientation meeting) for a refresher on what we have to offer.

Perhaps a goal is to increase your Buy Local efforts in the hopes that your fellow members will do the same. Buying locally supports our tax base and employs your friends / neighbors. If we all move more shopping locally, your business will increase and our community benefits in many ways.

One of my favorite goals is to get more organized. That one usually lasts into February. I think it’s what I’ll choose again this year!

So what’s your resolution and what will be improving your bottom line this year?

I saw an article online the other day, although I can’t remember where, and it started my wheels turning. Then, today I saw back-to-back posts on Mashable (an online social media guide) that Google and Facebook have come out with their own URL Shorteners or are about to do so.

First, you may be asking me what a URL Shortener is. Basically, it’s a web tool that really caught on due to social media. It takes a long website link – say http://www.manateechamber.com/rfp-tool.aspx – that would take up 35 of your 140 Twitter characters – and makes it teeny tiny. For instance, that web link might become http://bit.ly/8FMNZ4.

But it poses an interesting issue. It makes it much easier for you to click through to a site you normally would not visit. You don’t know for sure where that bit.ly link is taking you. And since Malware developers are among the trickiest individuals around, you can bet they’re taking advantage of this opportunity.

We’re starting the New Year off right by doing our part in encouraging the hosts of the Chamber’s networking events to “Go Green”. You’ll notice some really neat bottle-shaped recycle containers at the sites thanks to our good friends at Waste Pro and Signs Now.

The Chamber’s Green Business Initiative Committee is looking at numerous ways to partner with our members to help with this important effort that benefits everyone.

Recently, I had the pleasure of working with two State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota film students in the creation of a short video for the upcoming 2009 EDC Excellence in Industry Awards luncheon. Their charge was to film 5 high impact, Manatee County companies in the following targeted sectors: Clean Energy, Agriculture Technologies, Maritime & Distribution, Sports Performance and Life Science–a very diversified group of businesses and cultures. To say that I was impressed with these kids is an understatement! The students, Eric Gillen and Allison Shives exemplified professionalism from the onset to the completion of this important project. It was an added pleasure to interact with Del Jacobs, SCF, Professor of Film & Media Studies and Don Guy, SCF Film Department instructor and Executive Producer at Blue Sky Creates Inc. We are very pleased with the final product as it communicates the message that Manatee County does have a diversified base of high impact companies, and the EDC intends to capitalize on that great asset.

We are very excited to announce the winners of the Manatee EDC 2009 Excellence in Industry Awards. The event is almost sold out, so if you haven’t made your reservation, please do so soon by contacting Debbie Scott at DebbieS@ManateeEDC.com or 941-748-4842 ext 126.

I don’t know what’s to blame… the economic conditions, growth of the Internet, or just timing. But the number of scams and phishing alerts crossing my desk these days seem to be multiplying. Below is a new phishing alert regarding the H1N1 vaccine. Please be particularly careful over the next few months about clicking on any unsolicited emails. Stay as safe online as we hope you do in person!

CDC has received reports of fraudulent emails (phishing) referencing a CDC sponsored State Vaccination Program.

The messages request that users must create a personal H1N1 (swine flu) Vaccination Profile on the cdc.gov website. The message then states that anyone that has reached the age of 18 has to have his/her personal Vaccination Profile on the cdc.gov site.

The CDC has NOT implemented a state vaccination program requiring registration on www.cdc.gov.

Users that click on the email are at risk of having malicious code installed on their system.

CDC reminds users to take the following steps to reduce the risk of being a victim of a phishing attack:

Do not follow unsolicited links and do not open or respond to unsolicited email messages.